PC DVD Playback Stutter

[HowardSargent]

I am having some trouble with my DVD software. Whenever I watch a film through my computer I occaisonally get a very small stutter in the picture. If the mouse is left on the screen, it will disappear like it is supposed to but will reappear with the hourglass next to it just before the stutter. The stutters appear to be happening at regular intervals. I have tried a couple of different software players including InterVideo WinDVD Recorder (my main program) and a trial of PowerDVD XP 4.0 and they are both affected.

I suspected a background process/program and tried disabling some which I thought may be causing this (including Symantec Auto Live Update, numerous Creative programs that came with my soundcard and others).

I cannot think of what may be causing this problem.

My computer specs are:

Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz
512MB DDR RAM
nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440 (43.45)
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2
Creative Inspire 6700 Speakerset
16x DVD-ROM
32x/12x/48x CD-RW
40GB Hard Disk
80GB Hard Disk

The sound is set to S/PDIF
Video hardware acceleration is off

Information from WinDVD Recorder:

Version:
4.5 B11.026
Navigation:
Type: DVD
Region: 2
Drive: H:
TV System: PAL.
Video:
Hardware:
Vendor: Nvidia
Stream:
Type: Encrypted and Interlaced MPEG2
Bitrate: 7.500 Mbps
Framerate: 25.000 Hz
Resolution: 720x576
Aspect ratio: 4x3
Audio:
Hardware:
Audio Device: directsound
S/PDIF: Present
Number of speakers: 8
Stream:
Type: Dolby Digital (AC3)
Bitrate: 192 Kbps
Number of main channels: 5
LFE Channel: Present
Sampling Frequency: 48khz
Bits Per Sample: 16
Output:
Sample Rate: 48 KHz
Bits per Sample: 16
CPU:
Name: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.20GHz
Family:15(Ext:0) Model:2 Stepping:4
Standard Feature: 0x3febfbff
Instruction support:
Intel MMX: Enabled
Intel SSE: Enabled
Intel SSE2: Enabled
AMD 3DNow!: Not enabled
AMD Enh 3DNow!: Not enabled
AMD 3DNow! Pro: Not enabled

Any help would be appreciated

[setarip]

1) Turn hardware acceleration ON

2) Control Panel>>System Properties>>Performance>>File System Properties>>CD ROM>>Set "Supplemental Cache Size" to "Large", Set "Optimize access pattern" to "Quad-speed or higher"

[HowardSargent]

1) Does not make any difference

2) Where is that? I'm running Win XP Home. CD-ROM Cache is set to large and DVD-ROM is set to 16x in Tweak-XP

[HowardSargent]

Here's a list of background processes if this helps: